There are many theories out there about aerobic or cardiovascular exercise breaking down the lean tissue in the body. Aerobic exercise (exercise with oxygen) should be a vital part of your regular fitness program. You are not only burning calories but you are using the most important muscle in your body – the heart. As your heart is pumping blood throughout the body you are increasing the amount of oxygen and the size of the blood vessels in your body. These blood vessels supply oxygen to the tissues including your muscles. The oxygen also carries out waste products to help with recovery and growth of muscle tissue.
What type of cardiovascular activity is best for you and your specific goals?
Running, jogging and jumping rope are all examples of high impact aerobics and may tend to break down muscle tissue, burn more calories and with the presence of an improper nutrition program may lead to muscle loss. Walking, cycling and stair climbing are examples of non-impact to low impact cardiovascular activities that will potentially minimize the breakdown of muscle tissue.
Determining whether your overall goal is weight loss, body fat loss, or gaining lean mass, will help you determine what type of cardiovascular exercise is best for you to reach your goals. It is very important to choose a type of exercise you will enjoy and won’t cause boredom. Cardio must be performed for no less than 20 minutes. A slow, steady and long duration program will achieve greater fat loss results when done on a consistent basis. One tip to achieving faster results is to complete your aerobic activity immediately after weight training. This will allow you to burn a higher percentage of fat for energy. Another tip is to do cardio first thing in the morning prior to breakfast with plenty of water. Since your body has been burning calories during the nights sleep, body fat will be utilized as energy in the absence of glycogen in the blood stream.